


0-8-4

by LynyrdLionheart



Series: I Am Iron Man's Daughter [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, and Klaus is already there, and Loki shows up, in which Caroline and Natasha go to New Orleans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-19
Updated: 2014-04-19
Packaged: 2018-01-19 22:59:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1487287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LynyrdLionheart/pseuds/LynyrdLionheart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Caroline goes on her first mission to New Orleans.  Klaus is there to remind her of her past, Loki is there to remind her of her potential, and Natsha reminds her of who she wants to be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	0-8-4

**Author's Note:**

> Continuation of I Am Iron Man('s Daughter). Natasha is Caroline's S.O., and both the semi-evil to totally evil men in her life decide to put in an appearance.

She was after a 0-8-4 in New Orleans.

                Just her luck. Her first mission as an Agent of SHIELD, and she was being sent right into the dragon’s den.

                The vampire’s den?

                “You seem nervous.”

                As the daughter of Tony Stark and unofficial, but adopted, member of the Avengers, Caroline had warranted Natasha Romanov, the Black Widow herself, as her S.O. Usually Natasha wouldn’t take on a trainee, but one set back of being the daughter of Iron Man was that she had inherited his sarcastic nature and tendency to not play well with others… unless, of course, she was in charge.

                In short, Natasha was the only one willing to take her on.

                Well, okay, Clint Barton had volunteered as well, but the look in his eyes had told Caroline he hadn’t yet forgotten the time she had fed on him to unconsciousness, and that any time she spent training under him would be hell.

                Caroline had thought Natasha the better option.

                Of course, the downside to that option was that Natasha was observant, and it hadn’t taken her long to catch onto Caroline’s emotional ticks and tells. Like now, and how she was unnaturally quiet as they sat in a bar in New Orleans.

                “I have history in this city,” Caroline replied shortly.

                “Oh? The way Stark spoke, it sounded like you hadn’t travelled much beyond Mystic Falls and New York before you joined SHIELD. What’s your history in New Orleans.”

                “It just walked in” – of course this would be one of Klaus’ hang outs. Her life couldn’t be simple; she couldn’t _avoid_ the Hybrid. No, that would be too easy – “Klaus Mikaelson.”

                “The unofficial leader of your species,” Natasha stated, and when Caroline looked up from her hands, where she had buried her face, to look at her in surprise, Natasha merely shrugged. “I have excellent memory, and the day we met was a particularly memorable one.”

                Caroline had to agree – she had been kidnapped by Loki and wound up attacking him. It had resulted in her being on a Helicarrier with the Avengers, and her secret – that she was a vampire – had been revealed to SHIELD. That had been before she’d become a trainee, and it had been the beginning of her discovering what she was capable of, and then doing something about it.

                It was a day that changed her life.

                “The Mystic Falls grapevine informs me that he’s gone beyond unofficial now. He’s actually called the King here in New Orleans.”

                “We can leave,” Natasha offered. “We can make plans for the 0-8-4 anywhere.”

                Caroline shook her head resolutely.

                “I don’t run, Nat… besides, he already knows I’m here. He could be useful.”

                “You know how much I love to be useful, Love,” Klaus said, sauntering over to the table. Several of the bar’s patrons turned their heads toward their table; other vampires, curious about who could have attracted the Hybrid’s attention. “I must admit to some surprise at your presence. Mystic Falls finally bore you?”

                “I haven’t lived in Mystic Falls for over a year,” Caroline replied coolly. “Klaus, meet Nat. Nat, this is Klaus Mikaelson. Original Hybrid and King of New Orleans… it is King, right? I mean, that’s what the rumor mill informs me. Or is it Daddy?” she looked at Natasha with a small smile. “Vampires are horrible gossips. I think it’s the living forever thing. They have nothing better to do.”

                “Love, perhaps we should go elsewhere to talk. Your… companion can remain here, enjoy the atmosphere.”

                “Nat knows it all, Klaus. And I don’t have time to visit with you” – Caroline paused here and considered Klaus, thinking that perhaps he would know where they could find the 0-8-4 – “but you should have a seat. We’re looking for a book. Maybe you know where it is.”

                Natasha shot a quick _what-do-you-think-you’re-doing_ look at her, and Caroline gave her a tight smile in reply, because while Natasha might know more about SHIELD and how to deal with 0-8-4s, she didn’t know about the vampire world. Now that they were there, Klaus would know what they were up to. Better they have his assistance than have him working against them.

                “I need more than simply _a book_ , Love,” Klaus replied, leaning forward. “And more than _Nat knows everything_. Unless I’m mistaken, she _is_ a human, is she not?”

                “Yes, but she’s not telling anyone about anything” – the only people she would tell would be SHIELD, and Natasha couldn’t tell them anything Caroline herself hadn’t already – “and the book is old. Really old. It will be written in runes that you wouldn’t understand, or recognize.”

                “I’ve been alive a long time, Caroline. There are very few languages I don’t, at the very least, recognize.”

                “I know,” Caroline replied resolutely. “That’s why it would stick with you, because you _wouldn’t_ recognize this language. Trust me.”

                Klaus leaned back in his seat and steepled his gingers, contemplating Caroline with curiosity.

                “I can’t say I’ve personally encountered such a book, but I will speak to Elijah, and put my people on the alert. We will find this book for you… on one condition. You have dinner with me tonight.”

                “Is this your thing?” Caroline demanded, remembering when he had used similar tactics to gain a spot as her date to the Miss Mystic pageant. “Blackmail me into dating you? Girls prefer flowers, Klaus, and sparkly stuff. Chocolates.”

                “Well, the last time I used this method, you refused to allow me to get you so much as a corsage. Has your stance on that changed? I have a bracelet that I know looks lovely on you.”

                The bracelet from her birthday. The reminder made Caroline rock back and glare at Klaus. She glanced over at Natasha who wore her usual straight expression, but Caroline could see the amusement in her eyes, and that made Caroline huff angrily.

                “No, my stance hasn’t changed. One date, and you find me the book. I’m sure you’ll figure out where we’re staying.”

                Caroline stood and walked away, ever the master of the dramatic exit, but she knew, even without looking back, that Klaus would be smirking after her.

                It made her want to scream.

SHIELD

                “Are you sure we can trust this Klaus?” Natasha asked as Caroline prepared for her date. A vampire had shown up at their door, proving that, yes, Klaus could find where they were staying, and informed her that he would be picking her up at 8.

                “Not in the least,” Caroline replied simply, surveying herself in the mirror. She had decided to go simple – a little black number that showed off her cleavage and her back. She had spent enough time as the little blonde distraction to know what would work, and this dress would definitely work. “But if we acted as though we had something to hide, it would make him suspicious. And then he would search for the book for his own purposes. By letting him in on our mission, he’s more interested in _me_ , and I can keep him that way while you get us that book.”

                “You weren’t lying, when you said you were good at being the little blonde distraction,” Natasha mused. “How did you fall into the role, anyway?”

                “Klaus decided to be obsessed with me. We decided to use that fact. At the time, it was to save my friends. I find that I feel much less bitter about the role when it involves the whole world.” Caroline twirled, the flirty skirt of the dress moving with her. “So, do I look properly distracting?”

                “You do,” Natasha acknowledged. “Okay, you distract the Hybrid, and I’ll get into his house and find whatever it is he did this afternoon. Hopefully this isn’t a waste of time.”

                “A free meal is never a waste of time.”

                Natasha snorted lightly at that and made her exit. It always astonished Caroline how quietly the spy could move. Even her vampire senses had difficulty tracking her, and Caroline had decided almost immediately upon beginning her training with the Black Widow that Natasha was who she wanted to be when she grew up.

                Caroline glanced at the clock. Twenty minutes until pick up. She smoothed the skirt again and tried not to think of the last time she and Klaus were alone. In the forest. Where they had sex.

                Really, really good sex, but sex that had been the catalyst for her leaving behind her life and joining SHIELD. She hadn’t told anyone in SHIELD about it, afraid that anything she said would get back to her dad, resulting in the Original Hybrid being blown up by Iron Man.

                That would be wonderful PR for Stark Industries.

                Caroline sighed and reached for the necklace she planned on wearing, a simple silver ‘C’ on a delicate chain that her mother had given her for her birthday, only to find that it was gone.

                “What?” she asked blankly.

                “You should be wearing diamonds, Pet, not such simple little baubles.”

                Caroline felt a chill run down her spine at the voice. She hadn’t heard it in over a year, but the words it had spoken to her back then still echoed in her mind, always pushing her to do better, to be the best, to realize her full potential, because she was never going to be its victim again.

                “Loki,” she said through lips that felt numb. “You’re supposed to be dead.”

                “You knew I wasn’t, Pet,” Loki replied, and he appeared behind her in her mirror, holding her necklace in one hand. He watched their reflections as he lifted the necklace and placed it around her neck, carefully doing up the clasp. “You received my gift, after all.”

                “You were there,” Caroline replied, her spine tensing as Loki’s fingers lingered at the back of her neck. “I should have suspected as much.”

                “You’ve been busy since we last met. Joining SHIELD; you did excellent in your training. I’m not surprised. I knew you would be magnificent. But a lackey for Nick Fury? You could still do better.”

                “I wanted to learn how to use my abilities, in order to be able to take out assholes like you.” Caroline whirled, the gun holstered on her thigh in her hand and at Loki’s throat as she spun, her grip steady as she pressed the barrel to his pulse point. “Thor said you died.”

                “Thor believed that to be so, but I found that death didn’t suit. Did you mourn for me, Pet? Shed a tear?”

                “Not one,” Caroline replied coolly. She hadn’t of course, but there had been a part of her – a small, secret part that she kept chained up – that had felt bereft at the news. She hadn’t cried, but part of her had mourned, though she wasn’t sure if it had been the man or the loss of his blood.

                Then his gift, and his letter, had appeared in her apartment, and that tiny part of Caroline had been enough to convince the rest of her to keep his survival to herself. Something she tried not to think too much on.

                “Hmm… no, I suppose you wouldn’t. Are you going to shoot me?”

                “I want to.”

                “Then do it, Little Pet. I would like to see if your fangs have sharpened. Can you pull the trigger?”

                “No,” Caroline replied, shortly, pulling the gun away from his throat. “We’re in a hotel. The noise would draw attention, and I don’t want that. Why are you here, Loki?”

                “You seek out the book of the dark elves. It’s a dangerous game you play with there, Pet, and I’ve invested far too much time into you to allow you to die so easily.”

                “Invested time in me?” Caroline snarled in reply. “We spent a day in each other’s company. That’s not that much time.”

                “Is that what you assume? And tell me, Caroline, why did you join SHIELD? What drove you to leave behind your home to become Nicky Fury’s lackey? To learn to use your abilities to their fullest, rather than let them waste away? Your Hybrid, who pants after you like a lost puppy… oh, yes. I know about him. I might be jealous, if I didn’t know the real reason you wasted your time with him.” Loki’s hand came up to her neck, gripping it just tight enough to threaten, but not tight enough to cut off her air. “I really left an impression, didn’t I?”

                “You kidnapped me, made me feel like a victim. Yes, Loki, you left an impression. Because I decided I was never going to be your victim again.”

                Caroline brought her hand down in a chop across his neck, on hard enough to sever a grown man’s spine, and her hand passed through his illusion. She snarled as it disappeared in golden light, her eyes darting around the room, looking for where the real Loki could be; he was there, she could _feel_ him.

                Caroline breathed in deeply; her training at SHIELD had been specialized to take advantage of her vampiric abilities – _all_ her vampiric abilities, and she had learned to track by scent and sound rather than eyesight.

                _There_.

                The slightest rustle, the smell of his too delicious blood.

                Loki could teleport, but Caroline had vampire speed, and when she tackled him, the illusion keeping him invisible disappeared, and Caroline stared down at him, the real him, for the first time in eighteen months.

                He looked good – better than he had back then, gaunt and pale, with torture fresh in his eyes. He still had the look, but it wasn’t as sharp, and Caroline felt her breath catch. This was the Loki Thor had known and been so very fond of – handsome with wickedness in his eyes and smirk, and he was far more dangerous to Caroline than the tortured wreck of a man he had been.

                “Very good,” Loki murmured, smirking up at her. “You’ve learned your lessons well. I shouldn’t be surprised; Romanov would know how to bring out the very best of you. They chose your trainer well.”

                “Nothing less than the best for the daughter of Tony Stark,” Caroline replied, her hands pushing down on his shoulders. “The Book. You know where it is?”

                Loki gave her a droll _what-do-you-think?_ look. Caroline opened her mouth, planning on demanding its location, when there was a knock at the door.

                “Your Hybrid suitor arrives,” Loki said, and he reached up to grasp her wrists, pushing her back so he could sit up, but not removing her from his lap. “We’ll pick this up again another time, Pet.”

                He brushed her hair from her face, and Caroline considered punching him in his.

                Then he disappeared, and she fell, sprawling on the bed and cursing.

                “Love?” she heard Klaus call, and she cursed again.

                First Loki, now Klaus. God, but she hated her life.

SHIELD

                Klaus was looking at her oddly, and Caroline was trying to ignore those looks.

                “You know, Sweetheart, you’ve seemed to have lost your touch,” he said at last, setting down his fork and playing with the base of his wine glass. “Usually when you play the distraction, you act somewhat pleasant. It’s a sure sign of what you’re planning.”

                “Maybe I’m not playing the distraction tonight,” Caroline replied, pushing her hair behind her ear. “Maybe I’ve just been blackmailed into going on a date with you. This is my blackmailed-into-a-date personality.”

                “Really?” Klaus replied with raised brows, looking at her dress pointedly. “Because you’re certainly dressed to distract… or maybe that’s for the man you were entertaining before me?” His eyes darkened, and Caroline wanted to curse again, because _of course_ Klaus would smell Loki on her. He’d practically rubbed himself all over her, and now she had to wonder if that had been his plan? Was that why the damn Asgardian had been so laid back when she’d tackled him?

                Had she played right into his plans?

                Of course she had. This was Loki.

                “So, who was he?” Klaus asked, and his fingers tightened on the wine glass, sending cracks running up its length.

                “What do you want from me, Klaus?” Caroline asked, crossing her arms. “We flirted, we had sex, and then the plan was to never see each other again. You knew a different girl in Mystic Falls, one who didn’t know what she wanted. I’m not her, not anymore. You promised me Paris, Rome, and Tokyo, but I decided I could see them for myself.”

                “With this man, then, the one whose stench covers you? Does he know that you play the distraction for me? Or is he the one who sent you? Perhaps you found yourself another Tyler Lockwood; capable of loving you until another lost cause comes his way.”

                Caroline rocked back in her seat, surprised by the harshness of Klaus’ words. When was the last time she had thought of Tyler – _really_ thought of him, instead of just vague thoughts linked to Mystic Falls? Six months? Longer?

                She had returned from New York, and her love with Tyler hadn’t seemed as epic, not in the face of alien invasions and realizing her own vast potential had outgrown her hometown.

                That her potential had outgrown playing blonde distraction to a temperamental Hybrid.

                “Despite what you seem to think,” Caroline said coolly, glaring at Klaus across the table, “my life does not begin and end with whomever I’m dating. Once my sense of self-worth depended on being loved, by I’ve outgrown that. The book, Klaus. Did you find it?”

                “You didn’t answer my question?”

                “I didn’t,” Caroline agreed. “And I won’t. I’m not something for you to claim, Klaus, and _he_ has nothing to do with why we’re here. If you need your ego soothed, then I can tell you that you got further with me than he ever did” – and if that punched Loki’s ego, because Caroline was sure he was watching, then so much the better – “but the both of you have approximately the same influence on my current actions. Zero.”

                Lie, of course. They had both made her victims, both spoken of her vast potential, and Caroline had finally listened. But neither of them needed to hear that. Their heads were big enough as it was.

                “You are colder,” Klaus commented. “In the past, you would have enjoyed this, despite your better judgement. What have you been up to?”

                “Where is the book?”

                “I have it,” Klaus replied at last. “And you can have it… if you answer my question.”

                Caroline’s phone buzzed, and she looked down at it.

                _I have the book. Your boyfriend is horrible at hiding things._

Natasha.

                “I don’t have to answer your questions. I thank-you for your cooperation, Mr. Mikaelson. We have no further need of your assistance.”

                “What?” Klaus demanded, then his eyes narrowed in realization. “The other woman-”

                “Good-bye, Klaus,” was Caroline’s reply, and then she flashed away, leaving Klaus to sit alone at the table with no more answers than he’d had before.

SHIELD

                Loki watched her disappear and considered following her. But his Pet wasn’t ready yet; she was still discovering herself, discovering her potential, and Loki would leave her to the tender care of the Widow.

                For now.

                Instead he looked at the man she had left behind. The Original Hybrid. In terms of sheer power, he made Caroline seem insignificant, but the blonde was more than just her abilities. Loki had seen it in her eighteen months ago; oh, the vampire strength and speed were formidable, but there was more to Caroline Forbes. She had the innate ability to lead, to draw people, and their loyalty. She was every bit a queen, only she had no kingdom over which to rule. Loki wanted to remedy that.

                So, too, did Niklaus Mikaelson.

                “She is magnificent, isn’t she?”

                Klaus startled as Loki appeared in Caroline’s abandoned seat. Loki saw his nostrils flare, and recognition dawn.

                “We have a mutual acquaintance,” Loki continued, picking up Caroline’s wine glass and sampling the contents. It was sweet, rather enjoyable, and Loki drank some more. “I believe we also have a similar interest in that acquaintance. You will not win her, Hybrid.”

                “I could kill you,” Klaus mused in return, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully. “Eliminate the competition.”

                “What competition? You are ghost of her past – a mere memory for her to pull out, to recall why she shouldn’t miss her home. I am very much in her present; the driving force behind her change in lifestyle. I am the ultimate challenge – you no longer play a part in her life, but I am still a very real threat. As long as that is so, she won’t forget me. Not as she’ll forget you. A decade, a century… you’ll be no more than a foolish teenage romp in the woods, and I’ll still be the monster she seeks to defeat.”

                “If you think that, you don’t know me very well,” Klaus returned, narrowing his eyes.

                Loki looked at him and then he smirked. Klaus had his niche in New Orleans, King of a small corner of the world, no longer the fierce monster to haunt Caroline’s dreams, not when she’d had a taste of real power and now looked to save her world from it.

                “You’re the bogeyman she feared as a child,” Loki stated. “You no longer have any hold over her. You’re no competition. Not to me.”

                “You don’t know our history,” Klaus replied.

                “She distracted you, fooled you, and for a while may have cared for you… but _I_ changed the very fibre of her life, Niklaus. One doesn’t forget that, not as they’ll forget an almost lover of their childhood. Stay here in your city and rot. I will show Caroline the world and, when she is ready, I will give it to her. I thought you might be a threat to me, but you’re not. You’re no more than a memory.”

                “And do you think you’ll fare any better?” Klaus demanded. “Give it time, and you’ll become a memory as well.”

                “Not if I refuse to fade,” Loki shot back. “This has been entertaining, Hybrid. Have your meal on me.”

                And he disappeared once more, leaving behind a small pile of the currency the humans used.

SHIELD

                “Do you want to talk about it?”

                “You don’t want to talk about it.”

                “Well, no, but I can try if you want.”

                “I don’t want to talk about it.”

                Caroline looked out the window of the car as they zoomed away from New Orleans to the rendezvous point. The 0-8-4, _the Book of the Dark Elves_ , was secured in the back seat. Fury had told them Thor would meet them on the Helicarrier, to return the book to Asgard where it would be kept safe.

                Caroline thought Thor overestimated his father’s abilities. After all, Loki lived and none of them had any clue.  

                _You should tell them._

Caroline had opened her mouth a dozen times to tell Natasha, and each time had snapped it shut again. The news that Loki lived, that he was loose on Earth, would send SHIELD into an uproar. The very best agents would be put on the case, but Caroline wouldn’t be.

                She was a trainee, and trainees didn’t get to hunt villains like Loki. And that wasn’t acceptable. Loki had turned her world on its head, he was the reason she had joined SHIELD.

                _She_ would be the one to bring him to his knees. He was her monster, and to play no part in bringing her monster down?

                Caroline couldn’t accept that.

                So she kept her silence and she stared out the window, thoughts of Loki and Klaus filling her head, tearing her between the girl she had been and the woman she was. She felt like she was a girl torn in two, caught between her past and her future.

                “You’re more than the little blonde distraction,” Natasha told her, when they reached the Helicarrier and watched Thor take the book away. “I’m not saying you shouldn’t use that. You’re good at it, and you should use every weapon you have. But it’s not all you are, and it’s not the only role you can play. Remember that.”

                Caroline nodded, but the words struck a chord deep in her.

                To Mystic Falls, little blonde distraction _had_ been the only role she had played, the only use she’d had to her friends. But she wasn’t girly little Caroline anymore. She had been the top marksman in her training year, her ability to disguise herself was flourishing under Natasha, and every one of her instructors reported that she was a natural leader.

                She was poised to be the most promising agent out of SHIELD’s academy in years, if she could just let go of the past.

                Caroline hadn’t brought much from Mystic Falls. Some clothes and jewelry, a couple of pictures, and a drawing signed _fondy, Klaus_. To young Caroline, it had been a symbol. A symbol of the world, of what she could have.

                To Agent Forbes, it was a ghost that haunted her. A symbol of a man that had got away.

                Caroline pulled it out, looking at it, feeling the weight of it between her fingers. She looked at it, taking in the familiar features drawn in charcoal. It was a beautiful picture. Klaus had real talent. But it was wasted on her. She had her own talent, and didn’t need to hold onto another’s. Not anymore.

                She pulled out a lighter and held it to the paper.

                By the time the picture fell to ashes in her sink, Caroline felt lighter than she had in months.

                Klaus was the monster of her past, defeated and gone, no longer something for her to fear.

                But Loki? He was the ghost of her present, and it was time for Caroline to something about him.

**Author's Note:**

> And there it is. Now, just because she burned the picture doesn't mean she's done with Klaus. It means she's done with the Caroline Klaus gave that picture to.
> 
> I'm working on the next in this series. It's about Caroline getting a new partner... Enzo! Because I like Carenzo as both romantic and BroTP, and I need some of that in this series.


End file.
